House Bill 1509

AN ACT TO CREATE AN INTENSIVE SUPERVISION PROGRAM TO BE
KNOWN AS THE "HOME DETENTION FOR JUVENILES PROGRAM" FOR THE PLACEMENT
OF JUVENILES UNDER HOUSE ARREST; TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO
ESTABLISH THE PROGRAM AS A DISPOSITIONAL ALTERNATIVE IN DELINQUENCY CASES AND
TO PROMULGATE RULES FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM; TO REQUIRE PARTICIPANTS
TO PAY A MONTHLY FEE TO HELP DEFRAY THE COSTS OF THE PROGRAM; TO AMEND SECTION
43-21-605, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ESTABLISH PLACEMENT IN THE INTENSIVE
SUPERVISION PROGRAM AS A DISPOSITIONAL ALTERNATIVE IN DELINQUENCY CASES; AND
FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION
1. (1) For purposes of this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meaning ascribed in this subsection, unless
the context requires otherwise:

(a)
"Approved electronic monitoring device" means a device
approved by the department which is primarily intended to record and transmit
information regarding the child's presence or nonpresence in the home.

(b)
"Court" means any court of this state having jurisdiction to
place a juvenile offender in the Home Detention for Juveniles Program.

(c)
"Department" means the Department of Human Services.

(d)
"Home Detention for Juveniles Program" means the intensive
supervision program operated by the department for the placement of certain
juveniles under house arrest.

(e)
"House arrest" means the confinement of a juvenile, as a
dispositional alternative in a delinquency case, to his place of residence
under the terms and conditions established by the department or court.

(f)
"Participant" means a juvenile placed into the Home Detention
for Juveniles Program.

(2)
The Department of Human Services, Office of Youth Services, shall
establish an intensive supervision program that may be used as a dispositional
alternative in delinquency cases for children who are low risk and nonviolent
as selected by the department or court.
The program shall accommodate no less than one thousand five hundred
(1,500) children. Any child convicted
of a sex crime may not be placed in the program.

(3)
The department shall promulgate rules that participants enrolled in the
intensive supervision program shall be required to follow. The rules shall include, but not be limited
to, the following:

(a)
Each child referred to the program must take an alcohol and drug test
before being placed in the program. The
department shall assess the child or the child's legal guardian a fee of Ten Dollars
($10.00) to apply toward the cost of the test.
If the test results are positive, the child must receive alcohol and
drug treatment during his participation in the program.

(b)
A participant must remain within the interior premises or within the property
boundaries of his or her residence at all time during the hours designated by
the department.

(c)
Approved absences from the home shall include, but are not limited to:

(i) Attendance on a full-time basis at an approved school or in an
alternative school program;

(ii) Attendance at an inpatient or outpatient treatment facility for
alcohol and drug dependence; and

(iii) Attendance at an educational facility for the purpose of
preparing to take the General Educational Development (GED) test.

(d)
No child shall be placed in the program for a period of less than six
(6) months.

(e)
A participant must meet any other condition imposed by the court to meet
the needs of the participant and to limit the risks to the community.

(4)
The department shall select and approve all electronic monitoring
devices used under this section. The
department may lease the equipment necessary to implement the intensive
supervision program and may contract for the monitoring of such devices. The department shall select the best source
and price in contracting for such services.

(5)
Each participant in the intensive supervision program shall pay a
monthly fee to the department for each month such person is enrolled in the
program. The fee shall be no less than
Ten Dollars ($10.00) and not more than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) per month, as
determined by the department on a sliding scale using the standard of need for
each family that is used to calculate TANF benefits. The fee shall be in addition to any criminal or civil fines
assessed against the offender. Money
received by the department from participants shall be used for the purpose of
helping to defray the costs involved in administering and supervising the program.

(6)
If any participant violates the terms or conditions of his or her
participation in the intensive supervision program, the court may amend the
disposition order to impose any disposition alternative under Section 43-21-605
which the court could have originally ordered.

43-21-605.
(1) In delinquency cases, the
disposition order may include any of the following alternatives:

(a)
Release the child without further action;

(b)
Place the child in the custody of the parents, a relative or other
persons subject to any conditions and limitations, including restitution, as
the youth court may prescribe;

(c)
Place the child on probation subject to any reasonable and appropriate
conditions and limitations, including restitution, as the youth court may
prescribe;

(d)
Order terms of treatment calculated to assist the child and the child's
parents or guardian which are within the ability of the parent or guardian to
perform;

(e)
Order terms of supervision which may include participation in a
constructive program of service or education or civil fines not in excess of
Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or restitution not in excess of actual damages
caused by the child to be paid out of his own assets or by performance of
services acceptable to the victims and approved by the youth court and
reasonably capable of performance within one (1) year;

(f)
Suspend the child's driver's license by taking and keeping it in custody
of the court for not more than one (1) year;

(g)
Give legal custody of the child to any of the following:

(i) The Department of Human Services for appropriate placement; or

(ii) Any public or private organization, preferably community-based,
able to assume the education, care and maintenance of the child, which has been
found suitable by the court; or

(iii) The Department of Human Services for placement in a wilderness
training program or a state-supported training school, except that no child
under the age of ten (10) years shall be committed to a state training
school. The training school may retain
custody of the child until the child's twentieth birthday but for no
longer. The superintendent of a state
training school may parole a child at any time he may deem it in the best
interest and welfare of such child.
Twenty (20) days prior to such parole, the training school shall notify
the committing court of the pending release.
The youth court may then arrange subsequent placement after a reconvened
disposition hearing except that the youth court may not recommit the child to
the training school or any other secure facility without an adjudication of a
new offense or probation or parole violation.
Prior to assigning the custody of any child to any private institution
or agency, the youth court through its designee shall first inspect the
physical facilities to determine that they provide a reasonable standard of
health and safety for the child. The
youth court shall not place a child in the custody of a state training school
for truancy, unless such child has been adjudicated to have committed an act of
delinquency in addition to truancy; or

(iv) The Department of Human Services for
placement in the Home Detention for Juveniles Program created under Section 1
of this act.

(h)
Recommend to the child and the child's parents or guardian that the
child attend and participate in the Youth Challenge Program under the
Mississippi National Guard, as created in Section 43-27-203, subject to the
selection of the child for the program by the National Guard; however, the
child must volunteer to participate in the program. The youth court may not order any child to apply or attend the
program;

(i)
(i) Adjudicate the juvenile to
the Statewide Juvenile Work Program if the program is established in the
court's jurisdiction. The juvenile and
his parents or guardians must sign a waiver of liability in order to
participate in the work program. The
judge will coordinate with the youth services counselors as to placing
participants in the work program;

(ii) The severity of the crime, whether or not the juvenile is a
repeat offender or is a felony offender will be taken into consideration by the
judge when adjudicating a juvenile to the work program. The juveniles adjudicated to the work
program will be supervised by police officers or reserve officers. The term of service will be from twenty-four
(24) to one hundred twenty (120) hours of community service. A juvenile will work the hours to which he
was adjudicated on the weekends during school and week days during the
summer. Parents are responsible for a
juvenile reporting for work.
Noncompliance with an order to perform community service will result in
a heavier adjudication. A juvenile may
be adjudicated to the community service program only two (2) times;

(iii) The judge shall assess an additional fine on the juvenile which
will be used to pay the costs of implementation of the program and to pay for
supervision by police officers and reserve officers. The amount of the fine will be based on the number of hours to
which the juvenile has been adjudicated;

(j)
Order the child to participate in a youth court work program as provided
in Section 43-21-627; or

(k)
Order the child into a juvenile detention center operated by the county
or into a juvenile detention center operated by any county with which the
county in which the court is located has entered into a contract for the
purpose of housing delinquents. The
time period for such detention cannot exceed ninety (90) days. The youth court judge may order that the
number of days specified in the detention order be served either throughout the
week or on weekends only.

(2)
In addition to any of the disposition alternatives authorized under
subsection (1) of this section, the disposition order in any case in which the
child is adjudicated delinquent for an offense under Section 63-11-30 shall
include an order denying the driver's license and driving privileges of the
child as required under subsection (8) of Section 63-11-30.

(3) If the youth court places a child in a state-supported
training school, the court may order the parents or guardians of the child and
other persons living in the child's household to receive counseling and
parenting classes for rehabilitative purposes while the child is in the legal
custody of the training school. A youth
court entering an order under this subsection (3) shall utilize appropriate
services offered either at no cost or for a fee calculated on a sliding scale
according to income unless the person ordered to participate elects to receive
other counseling and classes acceptable to the court at the person's sole
expense.

(4)
Fines levied under this chapter shall be paid into the general fund of
the county but, in those counties wherein the youth court is a branch of the
municipal government, it shall be paid into the municipal treasury.

(5)
Any institution or agency to which a child has been committed shall give
to the youth court any information concerning the child as the youth court may
at any time require.

(6)
The youth court shall not place a child in another school district who
has been expelled from a school district for the commission of a violent
act. For the purpose of this
subsection, "violent act" means any action which results in death or
physical harm to another or an attempt to cause death or physical harm to
another.

(7)
The youth court may require drug testing as part of a disposition
order. If a child tests positive, the
court may require treatment, counseling and random testing, as it deems
appropriate. The costs of such tests
shall be paid by the parent, guardian or custodian of the child unless the
court specifically finds that the parent, guardian or custodian is unable to
pay.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1,
2005.